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Wednesday, December 01, 2004

Artomatic

What's odd for me about all this Artomatic stuff is that the same people who are championing it are also ranking the artists. Check out the numerous Artomatic Top Ten Lists submitted to Lenny Campello's excellent DC blog - from almost every art professional in the town! Doesn't that contradict the spirit of the whole endeavor? Artomatic's website states it is "By Artists, For Artists. Artomatic is organic; no jury, no curators".

Lenny is even conspiring with fellow gallerists to show the best of the agreed upon best. They're trying "to work out concurrent exhibitions of the "final" Artomatic Top Ten List, which will be compiled mathematically from all the lists that I have been getting from curators, critics and art dealers." Who's missing? That's right... ARTISTS! I'm pretty sure this was just an oversight though, right Lenny?

Isn't it amazing how much attention curators, critics, and gallerists pay artists when the artists get together and shut them out of the process? Every day should be an Artomatic day.

6 comments:

Mr. Martin Bromirski: You are cordially invited to read Cristina's NEW BLOG, which was created solely for your reading pleasure.

How do I link to your blog from mine? This site keeps trying to sell me on these programs. I just want to be able to read yours from the same page as mine. (Lazy girls are the BEST girls, cause they never have to do anything for themselves. C'mon, you agree.)

While it is a very good point. As I am not as involved in the DC art scene, I was not viewing the lists as only from professionals. And while Mr. Campello had written about the idea of a "best of the best show," I don't think that anyone would have (even unconsciously) taken it as definitive.

The Grammy's, the Oscars, the People's Choice Awards, the Nobel Prize for literature, etc. all attempt to do the same thing in their various fields. Where they succeed is in making more people aware of what is happening in a specific cultural field - they fail miserably in attempting to convince anybody that this particular piece, movie, song, book, etc. is the Best.

Making more people aware is good. Propaganda ain't so hot. I don't see a compilation of top ten lists into a separate show as propaganda.

Then finally, if you're mentioning who is missing, what about the public? Shouldn't they be entitled to a say?

My main point was that when artists get together to bypass the art delivery system, the art delivery system wants in, and that's instructive.

I'm not sure about how most of those awards you mentioned are decided, except for the Oscars - which are nominated and awarded by an Academy comprised of the people who make the movies - not the studios selling them, the critics, the distributors, the theatre chains, etc. Actors vote for Best Actor, directors vote for Best Director. From the Academy's website: "Up to five nominations are made in categories with balloting for these nominations restricted to members of the Academy branch concerned; film editors, for instance, nominate only for Achievement in Film Editing. All voting members may nominate for Best Picture."

Thanks for prompting me to investigate that, I think I'll write a future post on it.